K-9 Unit

The West Valley City Police Department is honored to employ six K-9s. The K-9s are trained to track suspects, find burglars or intruders, detect illegal drugs, assist in crowd control and locate lost or missing persons. They have been instrumental in apprehending many criminals that otherwise may have escaped capture or detection.

All West Valley City Police Department K-9s are well trained and are
certified through the Utah Police Officer Standards and Training
Academy. They maintain regular and rigorous training schedules with
their handlers. The K-9 Unit is supervised by one Lieutenant and one
Sergeant.

Officers & Their K-9s
A police officer applying to be a K-9 handler is making a huge
commitment in time and resources to become a handler. The K-9 assignment
involves a significant amount of training and preparation time that
isn’t required by most other law enforcement assignments. K-9 handlers
don't just work their full shift with their dogs - they also take the
dogs home with them where they become part of the family. Many handlers
arrange to keep their dogs after they are no longer able to work the
street.

The West Valley City Police Department K-9 Unit
occasionally performs K-9 demonstrations for the public. If you are
interested in having a demonstration for your community or youth group
(because of time constraints we can only entertain groups with fifteen
or more), please call the Patrol Section at 801-963-3256.

Meet the K-9s

Thanks to Honorary Colonel Ken Passarella for providing photos of West Valley City's K-9s and their handlers!